FAMILY TREASURES
by unamedhpauthor
Summary: A year after the war, Hermione returns home with her parents just in time for their family's annual summer vacation! This time secrets are revealed about her family that will shock everyone she loves, how ever will Hermione cope with everything? Eventual Dramione.
1. Chapter 1

**FAMILY TREASURES**

SUMMARY: A year after the war, Hermione returns home with her parents just in time for their family's annual summer vacation! This time secrets are revealed about her family that will shock everyone she loves, how ever will Hermione cope with everything? Eventual Dramione. J

Okay, I know I haven't finished any of my stories just yet but I cannot for the life of me shake this story out of my head! SO here I am again, writing a story about Dramione!

So hope you all like it too!

A few Notes about this story:

I know that most the events in the book happened in the 90's but for the sake of me not getting confused, I'll be adapting the timeline of the movie. That means that the war ended in 2011 and my story begins in the summer of 2012 so that means that the characters will be 18 years old in this story which means that they were all born in the 90's rather than the 80's. Did you guys understand that? Anyway, the point is, I'm following the movie in terms of their ages minus the epilogue. J

**DISCLAIMER:** Harry Potter is JK Rowling's baby all familiar characters belong to her, the ones that are unfamiliar, are mine. J

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE: THE RETURN**

"Sweetheart, its time to wake up. Wake up Hermione" Hermione awoke to the sound of her mother's voice as her shoulder was gently shaken in order to rouse her from her sleep. "Breakfast is ready and your father has taken our bags into the car. You have to get ready now sweet heart if we're to be at Grand mum and Granddad's place on time." Her mother said in order to convince Hermione to get up.

"G'morning mum, I'll be down in 20 minutes." Hermione said as she finally sat up and tried to wipe the sleepiness from her face before stretching her body.

As her mum finally left her room, Hermione began entered her bathroom and began her morning routine: Brush out the tangles of her hair, Shower, brush her teeth, apply body lotion and face cream which included sunscreen, brushed her hair again and dry it either with a wand or a hair dryer, depending on which one she'd rather use then get dressed and eat breakfast.

As Hermione finished her morning routine, she went to the kitchen to find her mother and father at the breakfast table waiting for her before beginning to eat breakfast. Hermione couldn't help but smile at the sight she saw, her mum and dad are finally back in England with her acting like a normal family.

As Hermione sat down at the breakfast table, she finally felt that she was home once more. It has been a year since the second wizarding war and after Harry had won versus Voldermort, she stayed until the renovation of Hogwarts and the Malfoy hearing were done. After that she bid Harry, the Weasleys and the rest of the order a good bye as she set to find her parents in Australia to restore their memories. After having restored their memories, she told them what had happened and while they were upset that their own daughter took their memories from them, they understood her decision but they had also decided that for Hermione's benefit, they would not return to England any time soon since they knew Hermione needed to recuperate away from the after effects of the war. So Hermione stayed with them in Australia, after informing her friends in England of her parent's decision.

Truth be told, Hermione was glad to take a break from everything that's happened in wizarding England. She needed a break and she knew that her family wanted to spend time with her after being gone for so long. But after a year of staying in Australia, her family knew it was time to come home, they did have responsibilities to return to after all.

"Helen, I need to pass by the office before we head out to your parent's. I need to pick up a few papers with regards to the dental company." Richard Granger said as he ate breakfast.

"It's fine, they know we'll be late and beside, we'll have plenty of time later." Helen said.

Hermione may have kept her wizarding and muggle life separate and while she has friends on both lives, she hadn't really told them a lot about herself. For instance, in the wizarding world, they only know her as the muggle-born witch, bestfriend of Harry Potter, the boy who lived and defeated Voldemort twice, one-third of the golden trio, they also know that Hermione's parents are dentists.

But what they didn't know is that Hermione comes from a family of dentists, in fact everyone in her family, dating back to the late 1800's were either in business or were dentists so, it came as no surprise that her family owns a chain of dental clinics that cater to celebrities, politicians, businessmen down to the everyday working class all over the country. Despite her seemingly humble upbringing, Hermione Jean Garrott Granger hails from a very rich and influential (dentally speaking, that is) family.

After breakfast, Hermione's dad loaded the rest of their stuff in their car while Hermione's mum made sure that they didn't forget anything and soon the Grangers were off to see grand mum and Granddad Garrott.

* * *

By the time the Grangers arrived at Hermione's grandparent's house, it was already packed with her relatives and cousins.

Another fact that Hermione's magical friends don't know about her is that while Hermione may be an only child, she does come from a rather large family. Her mum was the second of three siblings; Her aunt Henrietta is her mum's older sister and Uncle Howard, her mum's younger brother.

"Helen! Richard! Welcome back!" Aunt Henrietta said, the moment Hermione's mum opened the door, "oh how I've missed you! And Hermione! How are you my little bookworm? Alaia, Phillip and Thomas has been waiting for you out in the porch, why don't you go there after greeting Grandmama and Grand papa, hm?" her aunt said.

"Hi Auntie Hennie, I missed you too! Haha! I'll go see where Grand mum and dad are then I'll go meet up with Alaia." Hermione said as she hugged her aunt and then moved to look for her grand parents, but before she got past the living room she suddenly found herself lifted off the floor and being carried around her waist.

"There's my little mouse! Long time no see!" the man who had lifted her said, she immediately knew it was her Uncle Howard.

"Uncle Howard let go! haha!" Hermione said as she squealed at being carried and twirled around before being let down. "I can't believe you can still lift me up like that!" she said as she hugged her uncle after he put her down.

"I can't believe your still so light!" he replied back "so how was Australia? Did you like it there? Personally I thought it was too hot, but that's just me." He said.

"Australia is wonderful! I'm going to miss living there but it's so good to be back! How are Nathan and Ellie?" she asked.

"They're great! All your cousins are waiting for you at the back porch so go on ahead, I'll catch up with the oldies" he said as he winked at her, knowing that she'd remember their inside joke when she was little and wanted to join the oldies table.

After Hermione went to see and talk a little bit with her grand parents she immediately made her way to the porch where her cousins were impatiently waiting for her.

"Finally! I can't believe you're really back! We've got so much to talk about I've practically gone insane without you here!" Her cousin, Alaia who was her age, said as she met Hermione half way from the porch and dragged Hermione out the rest of the way. Her cousin didn't even give her ample time to greet her youngest cousin who didn't seem to mind their big Minnie being carted off by their older cousins.

Before Hermione could say something back she was already cut off by her oldest cousin by three years, Phillip "Give her some space sis, clearly she's overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people surrounding her now, you know how much of a loner our Minnie is!" he said jokingly knowing how much Hermione loved to stick to her cousins because she was an only child and had no one to play with unless they were visiting.

Hermione stuck her tongue out and said "well we all know your pranks would have sucked if I wasn't there to help make it better and you never could have gotten away with taking too much cookies unless I was with you, so really, I was the one who got stuck with you." Hermione was used to this banter between her cousins. He was after all her first playmate aside from Alaia, the three of them were practically inseparable.

"Fine, Fine, just cause I missed bugging the heck out of you the past year you were away, I'll concede" Phillip said as he raised both his hands as a sign of surrender.

" That's more like it!" Hermione said as she made her way towards her oldest cousin and gave him a really tight hug, which he too gave back.

"Anyway, where are we going really? No ones told me much about the details except that we're all going on a one week trip." Hermione said as she let go of her cousin and stood with Alaia.

"Oh right, no one's told you yet cause everything only happened last month!" Alaia said as she led Hermione and herself in one of the chairs vacant in the porch, "Well, apparently great grand père Garrott had another will made for some really old family property in Wiltshire that grand papa can only claim 5 years upon Great grand père's passing. Apparently, no one but great grand père knew about this property because it came as a surprise to everyone! It took the lawyer almost a year to track grand papa down!" Alaia said which as much enthusiasm as she could.

Hermione was astounded with all the information that her cousin had given her. Their great grand père lived an incredible long life before he died six years ago at the age of 110 years old. She never really thought much of it because she was always told that her family had always been gifted with an incredibly long life span, which seems to be true as her grand father, at 88 years old could still pass for an extremely healthy and fit 65-year-old man. But now, she couldn't help but feel a little curious and doubtful of the whole situation but until she could grasp fully what was going on, she was keeping her mouth shut.

"So that's where we're going today cause apparently, grand papa wanted to see this property for himself. The lawyer that visited him actually had a few photos and important papers with him the day he met with grand papa so he saw a few photos of what the place looked like. Apparently we have an ancestral house there that's pretty big, about 25 rooms and that hasn't even included the rest of the property and house's other rooms!"

"And how on earth did you find that out?" Hermione asked but then said "Actually don't answer that, with your penchant for snooping around I'd have no doubt you snooped around grand papa's things the moment you found out about this property!" Hermione said, knowing that that was what her mischievous cousin probably did.

"Oh how I missed you so much my know it all cousin!" Alaia said as she hugged her cousin real tight once more.

Alaia thankfully let her go soon because soon after Uncle Howard showed up on the porch letting them know that it was time to go and that they had to go out of the house and get into their respective cars.

As Hermione made her way to her parents and their car, she noticed that her grand parents were waiting for her too.

"Minnie my dear! I hope you don't mind but grand mum and I are going to join you and your parents for the ride." Her grand father said, and then in a more quiet tone, he whispered "I also do need to talk to you about something but I didn't get a chance to back inside the house because everyone wanted to see you and your mum. I hope you don't mind if you seat with me at the middle with Grand mum?" he asked.

Baffled, Hermione took at least three second before she realized her grand father was waiting for a reply "of course grand papa! I'd love to sit with you and grand mum!"

And with that they began to get inside the car and were soon on their way to Wiltshire.

* * *

Okay so here's a recap before I forget, the grand parents in this story are not Hermione's dad's side, they're her mother's side and since I've not got a clue on who her mother is, I made her name to be Helen Garrott Granger while her dad is Richard Granger.

I wanted Hermione to have more family members so I created them for her. Here's a brief break down on who they all are:

Jadon Curtis Chevell Garrott - Hermione's great grandfather

- Widowed. Wife died giving birth to only child.

- Pureblood

- Born in 1896.

- Died May 2006

- Age died 110

- Left the wizarding world in 1926 after a prophecy was made about his family being involved in the wizarding war which he wanted no participation in.

Clarisse Boulstridge Garrott - Wife of Jadon Curtis Cheverell

- Hermione's great grand mother

- Died of childbirth (1924).

- Mother of Davion Garrott

Davion Garrott - 88 years old. Born in 1924

- Hermione's grandfather

- Purebloods

- Raised in the muggle world

- Did not attend Hogwarts

- Davion was born in England but left when he was two years old and was raised in South Africa, where there is no magic school so his father taught him even though he had no interest in magic or its community.

Elodie Lovell Garrott - 77 years old. Born 1935

- pureblood

- raised in the muggle world

- did not attend Hogwarts

- Born in Paris but moved to England when she was three, then family moved to Australia where there is also no magic school or community and was also taught by her parents, she too held no interest in the magical world.

- Mother's name is Adelyn Grace Ross, Ran away from the magical world at age 18 with Eddard Lovell a considered blood traitor, and was never seen again.

- Cousin of Professor McGonagall. Their mothers are sisters. They are the same age (accdg. to the hp wiki)

Henrietta Garrott Smith - Hermione's aunt.

- 49 years old

- Also known as Auntie Hennie.

- Eldest sister of Hermione's mum.

- Widowed with 3 kids:

- Phillip Dagworth Garrott Smith (20 years old)

- Alaia Kaleigh Garrott Smith (18 years old)

- Thomas Robin Garrott Smith (16 years old)

- Dentist at the family clinic in Ireland.

Helen Garrott Granger - Hermione's mother

- Dentist at the London Branch/head office.

- Married to Richard Granger (48 years old)

- 47 years old

Howard Greyson Garrott - Hermione's Uncle (youngest)

- 38 years old

- Married but wife is overseas.

- 2 kids:

- Eliana Mikayla Garrott (9 years old)

- Nathaniel Conrad Garrott (6 years old)

Well, there you have it, a brief background on the adults in Hermione's family. I'll maybe make another one of this for Hermione's cousins, so watch out for my next author notes. HAHA. But I'll most likely just describe her cousins during the stories in one of the future chapters, or maybe I'll do both. Let me know what ou think. I'm mostly just doing these family backgrounds so as to not be confused when I'm writing about one of them and I thought it might be useful to you guys too! :)


	2. Chapter 2

How'd you guys like the first chapter? :)

I have another long A/N at the bottom. It might help in understanding some of the spells I used in this chapter. They're all fictional so please don't be angry when you realize I suck as spell making. LOL

**DISCLAIMER:** Harry Potter is JK Rowling's baby all familiar characters belong to her, the ones that are unfamiliar, are mine.

* * *

**CHAPTER 2: WELL, WELL, WELL.**

Despite Hermione's grandfather's insistence that they talk in the car, they never really got to because her grandfather and grandmother fell asleep within 30 minutes into the drive. So after three stop overs, one for gasing up and 2 for buying food (she did after all have cousins who are "growing boys") they finally arrived after 2 hours and 45 minutes in Wiltshire.

They were sitting in one of the gas station diners when her grandfather and mother pulled Hermione to the side, "Hermione, why don't we all go to the property first before the rest of them join us? They haven't finished eating yet and I would really like to speak to you alone now." Her grandfather said.

Hermione was now and truly confused, why won't they just wait for everyone to finish up before they go? They were all going there anyway but she didn't want to protest since it seems like her grandfather really needed to talk to her about something so she agreed to do as he said.

"Good, I'll go get the keys from Richard and I'll take you two then I'll come back and lead them there." Her mother said.

As her mother went back inside and made up some excuse so that the rest of the family would follow her father's instructions, she took the car keys from her husband and drove off with Hermione and her father.

It took another 25 minutes until her mother stopped at a seemingly abandoned lot that was hidden behind a line of huge oak trees that seemed to line up for at least a mile.

As the three of them got down the car and inspected the lot, Hermione's curiosity got the best of her "Okay, what is going on? Why are we stopping in front of a vacant lot?" she asked.

Davion Garrott chuckled and looked back at his brainy grand daughter "Ah, but it's not just a vacant lot, sweet heart I know you're a witch. I will explain it more later but I need you to take out your wand, and cast the spell _familia_ _possessio revelio_ four times to reveal the property and then I'll tell you when to cast the next spells."

Hermione was shocked! She knew she must have had a magical relative somewhere down her family history but she never expected it to be her grandfather! In truth she was hurt and the more she thought about it, the angrier she felt.

"Sweet heart, listen to your grandfather, he's explained everything to me. He'll tell you everything. I know it will be hard but trust him for now. I'm going back to the diner, that should be ample time for you to finish whatever it is you have to do before everyone gets here." Her mother said as she watched her make her way back into the car and drive away.

Hermione was suddenly brought out of her stupor and turned to look, more like glare at her grandfather "We will talk about this grandfather. Immediately after I cast these spells." She said as she began to follow as her grandfather instructed.

After casting _Possessio revelio_ four times, Hermione couldn't help but be amazed at what now stood in front of her. When Alaia said that they apparently had an ancestral house that they didn't know about, she was wrong. Apparently they do have an ancestral home, but it is not a house, it was a freaking Manor!

"Amazing! I never knew father hid this for so long!" Davion said took in the Manor that is now very visible to him.

"Grandfather, if you're a wizard, why didn't you ever tell me? Why don't you have a wand so you can cast these spells yourself? What is going on?" Hermione asked, her curiosity and anger getting the best of her.

"We don't have much time to talk about this right now, I'll tell you when we get inside." Davion said as he motioned Hermione to follow him to the main door.

Hermione didn't follow him; instead she turned to look around the property she could see. Which was only the front of the manor. She thought it reminded her of Forde Abbey, a bigger and probably older, Forde Abbey.

"Ouch!" she heard her grandfather say as he shook is hand "the door won't open, it electrocuted my hand!" he said.

"A manor as old as this has been heavily warded with protection charms and intrusion wards, the fact that it was under a fidelius charm too would attest to that." she said as she approached her grandfather.

"A fidelius charm?" he asked.

Hermione nodded and explained what it is, "a fidelius charm is cast on anything that needs to keep either a property, a living person or creature or even a mundane object without ever being found unless it is voluntarily revealed by a secret keeper. The fact that we had to use _Familia_ _Possessio revelio_ means that the secret keeper has long been dead and so we as blood relative of the owner of this property needed to find another way to reveal all this without one."

"Amazing, but why won't it let me through? I'm a blood relative and I'm certainly magical. I may not practice it but I am." He said.

Hermione filed what her grandfather said into the back of her mind as "something to bring up when we have the conversation later" and decided to answer his question.

"It's because even though we were able to reveal the property with the spell, it won't immediately recognize us as its rightful owners. Like I said before, this is an extremely old property so there are a lot of wards placed in it to protect it from intruders."

Hermione moved away from her grandfather and instructed her grandfather to do the same and decided to cast another spell "_Ostendo Revelio Victus_" she said.

Immediately after casting the spell, a glowing blue-green mist appeared in front of her that listed:

_12 house elves in the kitchen_

_10 owls in the south wing's owlery_

Hermione breathed a sigh of relief knowing that there are no immediate harmful creatures inside before she decided to unlock the entrance with another spell.

Hermione once again raised her hand and began to chant a spell "_Probo Porta Familia Sanguis_" as she cast the spell the second time, she began to move her wand to her left hand and began to cut it so that her blood would drip down to the floor in the front door.

Davion Garrott was immediately alarmed that his grand daughter was cutting herself! But he knew that he shouldn't interfere with her casting. Instead he tried to calm himself but he failed to do so as he saw that the blood dripping down Hermione's hand disappeared from the floor as if it never fell on the spot where it should have fallen or stained.

As soon as he noticed that, Hermione had cast another spell on her hand to stop the bleeding and heal it as if she never cut it, approached the door and unlocked it by simply twisting the knob and looked at her grandfather "there, now we can enter" she said as she signaled him to follow her inside.

"What did you just do? You were bleeding! But there were no blood stains!" he said. He was never raised in a magical household despite the fact that his father was pureblood, they lived like muggles up until the day his father died. He never really complained as he became wary of magic at a small age when he used to perform accidental magic that terrified him. He had to beg his father to contain his magic so that he wouldn't be able to use it anymore. That was the only time his father performed magic in front of him.

Hermione looked at her grandfather to make sure he followed her inside and said "I had to offer up my blood to the wards as proof that I am from the bloodline of its owners, otherwise we wouldn't be able to get in. Don't worry though, now that they have my blood, it will recognize everyone who come from the same bloodline as I do. Everyone from the diner will be able to see and enter this place as they please, no need for their own blood."

Her grandfather seemed to understand her so he followed her inside willingly. As the duo entered the manor, they were breath taken once more. As beautiful as the manor was outside, it was even grander inside it was of Victorian design, the walls were painted white but it had gold accents to warm up the walls. Hermione looked around and figured that they were standing in the entrance hall, as she walked further inside, she found herself in a foyer. She also noticed that there were two hallways; one going left and the other right that were lined with intricately carved wood paneling on the side where both had wide staircases attached to them.

As she moved forward to the left of the lower hallway, she saw a fire place, two large sofas and a large coffee table in between the sofas, she thought it must be a waiting area of sorts, as she looked in the other way, she saw that there were glass doors that covered the wall, it must lead to the outside property of the manor. She was brought out of her observation when her grandfather called out her name.

"Hermione! There's something behind the stairs!" Davion said in a frantical way.

Hermione moved toward her grandfather and saw that there was indeed something hidden behind the stairs, rather someone: A house elf.

"You is the blood offerer." The house elf said as he turned to look at Hermione.

"Yes, I am. My name is Hermione Granger, and this is my grandfather, Davion Garrott. We came here because we were informed that this property was left in the will of my great grandfather he-"

"You is master Jadon's son? You is young master Davie?" The house elf suddenly looked at Davion, its large round eyes becoming larger with hope and curiosity.

Hermione looked at her grandfather and saw that he was a little bit stunned at the little creature he had never knew existed. She cleared her throat hoping that he would speak up; it was effective.

"uh, yes, uh master Jadon was my father, he died 6 years ago, I am his son Davion." Her grandfather said, still looking at the weird creature.

The house elf's should slumped and it bowed its head, its sadness evident in its voice as it spoke "we knows master died 6 years ago sir, but we did not goes to his funeral. He forbided us to leave the manor, he saids he must protect and waits for his heir." The house elf said as he looked at Hermione and Davion, round eager eyes back.

Hermione looked at her watch and noticed that the rest of their family will be arriving any time now so she took charge of the current situation. "I'm sorry but we didn't get to get your name, what is your name?" she asked.

"Oh! Tippy is sorry miss! Tippy bad elf! Tippy should have introduced herself first!" the house elf, now known as Tippy said as she began to near the spindle of the staircase it had hid on.

Hermione knowing what was about to happen immediately stopped the elf by saying "Tippy, we are your masters now, right?" she saw the house elf stop and nodd at her "good, then as one of your masters, I forbid you to cause intentional harm to yourself. I do not allow physical punishment in this household. Later on you can go inform your fellow house elves of that new rule."

That seemed to stop Tippy from hurting herself as she nodded in understanding at what Hermione had said.

"Good, now. The rest of our family is about to arrive but they are not magically gifted. That means that they mustn't see you until the moment I allow them to. You must not serve and be noticed by any of them until I call you, okay?" she said to the elf, she had to hurry instructing the house elf as she was certain she felt the wards change to let the rest of her family in to the property, they were probably in the gate by now.

"Tippy and the rest must not serve masters?" Tippy asked, nervous about not serving her honorable family when they've finally returned home.

"Yes, until I tell you to show up you must not be seen or felt by the rest of the family. You may approach me but only when I am not with them. Is that clear?" Hermione said as the elf nodded in understanding.

"Mistress, if tippy may ask, how many of you's is coming to stay?" Tippy asked.

"There are eleven of us staying for the week, why?" Hermione asked as she looked at her grandfather who seems to be coming to terms with his surrounding.

"Tippy is wondering if maybe, Tippy and others can prepare rooms? We promises to not be seen and be felts when they's arrive!" Tippy asked, all the elves had felt their new masters presence and was eager to serve but with Hermione's new rule, it seems as if they wouldn't be able to do that soon, Tippy was hoping that Hermione would grant them this one opportunity to serve even if they must not be seen.

"Okay you may, but please hurry. They are already outside." Hermione said.

"Oh thank you mistress! We is preparing all roomses in the left hallway leading to the west wing!" Tippy said as she snapped her fingers and was out of sight.

Exactly after Tippy snapped her hands and disappeared, the door opened and her relatives finally entered the manor.

* * *

Notes: for my spells, I used the Internet for making them, not really sure it they're accurate but they came from:

**_Familia Possessio revelio-_** Latin of Family, property and reveal (I just took revelio from homenum revelio). Used to reveal the property of your family. The only ones who can effectively counter a fidelius charm with this spell must be from the bloodline of the owner of the property.

**_Probo porta familia Sanguis_** - Latin which means "approve, entrance, family, blood", respectively, this spell is used so that Hermione's family who are not magical can still enter and see the property as long as it is proven that they are from the same blood line. I couldn't find a counter curse/spell or charm for a fidelius charm so instead, I made this spell up so that the rest of the family can be able to reach the property even if they aren't magical. Also they can bring in guests as long as they enter the property with someone from the approved bloodline.

**_Ostendo Revelio Victus_**- Latin for show or declare and living. Used to detect and reveal any living creature surrounding the property.


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMER:** Harry Potter is JK Rowling's baby all familiar characters belong to her, the ones that are unfamiliar, are mine.

* * *

**CHAPTER THREE: GARROTT MANOR**

Hermione walked back to the entrance hall as soon as she heard the sounds of her younger cousins running into the manor.

As she made it to the foyer, she heard Ellie and Nathan 'ooing' and 'ahh-ing' the place.

"This place is huge!" said Ellie.

"Huge?! it's Ginormous! I bet giant's can live here!" Nathan said.

"Giants? Don't be silly Nathan! Giants are at least ten feet tall! The ceiling is only around 8 feet tall!" Hermione said as she found her little cousins' imagination adorable. Although she did correct him about giants, he just didn't know it.

"Whatever Minnie, its still big!" Nathan said as he grabbed his sister and ran across the hallway.

"Don't run off too far! You wouldn't want to get lost!" Hermione shouted after them.

"Can you imagine this place?! How many parties we can have here! We've got to check out the whole place!" Hermione heard Alaia say.

"Yes, I know let's do that after we unpack" she told her cousin then faced the rest of their party "I've found some rooms upstairs from the left staircase, they all seem to be kept clean and unused so we just have to pick which room goes to whom." She explained. She couldn't very well tell them that a house elf had cleaned the rooms and told her where the rooms they would be using were.

As the rest of her family went up stairs to pick their own rooms and unpack, Hermione was once again left alone at the bottom of the stairs. When it seemed that all of her relatives wouldn't be coming down soon, Tippy appeared in front of Hermione.

"Mistress, we is done fixing the roomses and we were not seen, is there something else's you wants us doing?" Tipp asked.

"Thank you Tippy but there is no more I can ask you to do for now, just make sure you don't get seen and help the others just yet." She replied.

"Oh, okay mistress, Tippy will be going now." The house elf said but before the Tippy could disappear, Hermione suddenly remembered something.

"Tippy, are there any magical paintings and portraits here?" she asked.

"Yes mistress! There is lots of them in the east wing and north wing and the other roomses!" Tippy exclaimed!

Shit! Hermione thought! Her family couldn't see any of those paintings! They would freak out!

Okay, Tippy there is one more thing I need to ask of you, can you move all those paintings into one wing for now and make sure none of my other relatives see them. Make sure you don't get seen or felt again. Okay?" She said.

"Tippy and others will be glad to do so mistress!" Tippy said as she once again disappeared into mist.

"Hermione! There you are! Come on! I got us the best rooms!" Alaia had come down to drag Hermione up the stairs to show her which rooms she picked for the two of them.

"Okay, so the one on the left is your room and the one on the right is mine, go check yours out!" she said excitedly. Hermione did as she was told and entered the room on the left. Hermione was breath taken once more at the opulence of the room.

As she entered the room, she was greeted by a scenic view of the manor grounds from the huge floor to ceiling window with a window seat that looks so comfortable she thought she could just curl up and read all day and not even notice a thing.

As she continued to look around, she saw a huge four poster bed on the placed in the center of the right wall, it reminded her of her bed at Hogwarts although this was definitely bigger and looked way more comfortable, beside the bed are two wooden bed side table with carvings that match the ones on the walls.

On the other side, Hermione saw three doors, as she entered the left most door, she found herself in a huge bathroom, there was a bath tub that coud fit four people, a large shower and a large marble sink and a toilet, the opulence of the bed room clearly extends to the bathroom.

Hermione then entered the next door; which she guessed would be a closet. She was right too, but it wasn't just a closet where you put your things and close again, it was a rather large walk in closet where one side of the wall you could fill with shoes, the other with bags and the other side with your clothes, on the center of it is a marble island table where you could place your jewelry, make up and whatever else you can put there.

The last door Hermione entered, she truly had no clue but when she opened it, she knew immediately it would be her favorite. The last door opened to a small personal study or library, all four corners of the room were lined with book shelves and books, in the right side, Hermione found another window with a window seat, although this window is smaller than the one in her bed room, it had the same view. In the center of the room stood a desk that just begged to be worked on, as Hermione reluctantly headed back into her bed room, she found that despite the opulence of the room, it was also quite simple. She guessed it was probably why Allie picked this room out for her.

Hermione was just about finished unpacking when she heard another pop inside her room, quickly grabbing her wand to lock the door; she turned to the source of the pop.

"Pardon Tippy mistress, but we is done hiding the portraits, what would you likes us to do now?" Tippy said.

Hermione thought of what else she needed to do and came up with one more thing "wait here Tippy", she said as she went back inside the library, took a piece of parchment and ink, sat in the desk and wrote two letters.

As soon as she finished she asked Tippy to send those two letters out as soon as possible and wait for the replies and make sure to put it in her desk.

As soon as Tippy had disappeared once more, Hermione sat down on the bed to contemplate everything that had just happened: she found out her great grand father was a rich pureblood, her grand father is a pureblood who refuses to use magic, as is her grand mother, they apparently own this huge manor, along with the rest of its properties and she had to keep her relatives from knowing that this is a magical property! Oh how she hoped her letters would get a reply so soon!

Soon enough, Hermione once again got a grip on her emotions and unlocked her door, hid her wand and went to meet her cousins and family so that they could all walk around the property. She hoped there were no magical creatures out there; she wouldn't know how to explain that without breaking the statute of secrecy!

* * *

A few hours later Hermione and the rest of her family had returned to their rooms to rest before heading out to explore the town and have dinner while they're there too.

As they explored the grounds, they discovered that as soon as you step outside the manor, they were greeted by a nicely trimmed lawn and as they walked further from the manor, as they decided to start from the right to the left as they go back to the manor, they saw that to the right of the manor, there was a beautiful rose bush maze (it reminded her of the red queens, maze in Alice in Wonderland) that lead to a rather sizable forest, there was also a large barn, a stable, a patch of vacant land that seemed to be used for farming animals and a small house that seemed to serve as the servants quarters.

As they made their way back to the manor, they saw a pond filled with water lilies with a bridge that has a large gazebo in the middle, next to it, there was also a rather large and long pathway that you could use to jog or run, from the pond to the pathway, it was surrounded by gardens that were filled with flowers of all kinds ranging from roses, hydrangeas and other flowers that range from the most common ones to the rarest ones, as they moved closer to the manor, they saw several green houses, plants that are both herbal and medicinal, vegetable and fruit patches, plants and trees. To the delight of Hermione and her cousins, they also found a rather large lap pool (the biggest any of them has ever seen) surrounded by a tables with umbrellas, plastic chairs with comfy cushions and tables on one side of the pool while two large trees provided ample shade from the heat so you can swim any time of the day.

After exploring the grounds, Hermione and her family also decided to explore the inside of the manor, on the ground floor they found three large vacant rooms that seem to be ballrooms, two tea rooms, four saloons, two studies and one office that were connected to one really huge library, much to Hermione's pleasure.

It was in one of the studies in the ground floor that Hermione found herself sat in the seat behind the big desk while both her grand parents sat in the sofa across her. She had cast silencing charms, and charms that would alert her if one of her family members were near the study so that they would not be disturbed.

"Okay, I think its safe enough to talk without being interrupted by the others" she said. Hermione was still furious about the whole situation, her grandparents hid something about their family that she should have been made aware of! They were going to explain everything to her, whether they like it or not.

"Well, I don't know much about the magical world, to be honest" Davion said as he began to tell his grand daughter everything he knew, "both me and your grand mum are born to magical parents" he noticed the shock in Hermione's face upon hearing this but chose to ignore it and continued on "but we were raised in different parts of the world, as muggles but you know that already" he added.

"Why didn't any of you tell me this before? As a child I couldn't explain why I was so different from my cousins! You both were magical so surely you must have known! All those years in school I was tormented because not only were I born to muggle parents but I was fully convinced that I was the only one in the family with this gift." Hermione said, all the painful memories of being taunted and insulted because of her bloodline, she doesn't mind being muggleborn, really but she really could have done with none of those.

"We're sorry sweet heart. We didn't mean for all this to happen, we've never practiced magic, I had my father bind my powers so that I couldn't do them anymore, they frightened me and I really just wanted to be normal like everyone around me." Davion said, seeing the pain in his grand daughter's face hurt him. He never knew of the life she had as a witch.

"And honey, we only really found out you were a witch when that lawyer came in and told us about this property last month, up until this morning I never even knew that the school you went to was for magical people." Hermione's grandmother, Elodie added, "not that that is an excuse for hiding such a huge secret but we should really think about moving forward knowing these information."

Hermione thought for a moment, while it is true that both she and her parents never revealed to their family members of her being a witch, as the only thing they told them was that she was invited by a really prestigious school in Scotland that only takes in a few students every year and only invites the best from a few schools in England, in fact they were extremely selective of their students that they do not accept applicants save for those that they themselves invited.

This wasn't really a lie though since Hogwarts and the people who run it know that muggle relatives are often nosy about where one goes to school or works so they invented a muggle school that their muggleborn students and muggle parents can tell their relatives where their children goes to school without compromising the statute of secrecy: Ravensdale Academic Institute for the Advance and Gifted, a boarding school based somewhere in Scotland that only invites the best of the best from each schools in England.

"I suppose you're right, I'm not saying I'm no longer upset about this whole ordeal but we should move past it" Hermione said as she agreed with her grandmother " But why did great grand père leave the wizarding world?" She asked.

"Ah, the only thing he told me before was that it wasn't a safe place anymore so he left" his grandfather said.

"Same with my family, although we never really talked about it, I never bothered because I was happy with where my life is at now." Elodie added.

"The lawyer who informed me of this property gave me something as well, it was father's journal, I don't understand most of it but maybe this will help you with everything" Davion said as he held out a worn dark brown leather bound notebook to Hermione.

"Thank you grandpa" Hermione said as she took the journal and stood up. She made a mental note to begin reading it before sleeping tonight.

"I also thought you should know that I sent out a letter earlier today so we should be expecting a few visitors tomorrow to assist us with the whole property." She said, "Grandpa I know you saw the house elf earlier and I think its safe to say that we can't hide the truth from the other now that they've seen this manor, we need to tell them but its going to be difficult because there are rules that come with interacting with muggles" she explained "So I've invited someone who can help break this news to the others"

Her grandparents looked confused, Hermione then realized that while her grand parents were both of magical descent, they might as well have been squibs or just plain muggles.

"We trust your judgment with this one sweet heart, whatever it is you think needs to be done, we'll support you." Her grandfather said as both her grandparents stood up to stand by her.

"Thank you. I guess you should probably go up and rest now, we'll be leaving in a few hours for the town." She said as she removed the charms and spells she put on the study and led her grand parents up the stairs and into their room.

* * *

AN:

So how is this story so far? :)

Here's a more elaborate made up background for the muggle counter part of Hogwarts:

**Ravensdale Academic Institute for the Advance and Gifted:**

- Built in 1770

- A boarding school based in Scotland although exact location is not given to just anyone except its students and parents/guardian.

- Does not accept applications from just anyone as they are extremely selective of their students and only accepts those the school invites.

- Some of their famous alumni include: Jane Austen (muggleborn), T.E. Lawrence (half-blood), Charles Dickens (pureblood), J.R.R. Tolkien (pureblood), Florence Nightingale (halfblood), Julie Andrews (muggleborn) and of course, J.K Rowling (muggleborn).

- Protected by the Ministry and the British Government

- Places a strong confundus charm on its name so that every time muggles talk about the school, they don't talk about it too much or forget they were even talking about it.

This is just fictional so please don't get mad at me! haha! And I just had to include J.K. Rowling!


	4. Chapter 4

Here's chapter four! I hope you guys still find this an interesting read, personally I feel like I've been writing really long chapters lately and I don't know if that's a good thing. LOL.

**DISCLAIMER:** Harry Potter is JK Rowling's baby all familiar characters belong to her, the ones that are unfamiliar, are mine. J

* * *

**CHAPTER FOUR: THE FIRST NIGHT**

Getting out of the bathroom after her nightly routine, she took the journal from the small table beside the bathroom door and headed for her bed. As soon as she felt settled in bed, she began to read her great grand père.

_January 07, 1924_

_My beloved Clarisse has given birth to our son. Oh what joy I should feel is clouded by the pain and sorrow of losing my beloved wife. Our son, she named Davion, is healthy and while I could not ask for more, I wish my wife hadn't lost her life in bringing our boy into the world._

_Life must carry on; I vow to raise my son knowing that his mother is with us always._

_I will love you eternally, my Clarisse._

_Your Husband, _

_Curt._

As Hermione finished reading the first entry, she couldn't help but wish that someday, she would meet someone out there who would love her the way her great grand père loved her great grand mere.

_January 09, 1924_

_My Clarisse now rests in the family graveyard. I can only hope that one day I will be able to lie with her._

_Curt._

A little morbid, but Hermione understood that. Hermione read around some of the entries in the journal, as it seemed he wrote about his days in the manor, how to handle the house elves and manage a household and the family business and being a single father. It wasn't until she read a certain entry that she felt she found something substantial.

_January 07, 1925_

_Davion turned one today, I don't know how I managed to live without my beloved but I suppose filling my days with the care of my son and everything around me has helped me cope._

_Davion had a small party with our closest friends and their children, it seems my son is not taken with any of them; he just kept to himself and ate cake. He had fun though, because he fell asleep instantly after I had put him to bed._

_I also heard some disturbing information today, while talking to Abraxas, a seer suddenly approached us and said:_

**_A dark man shall come soon, _**

**_Two houses shall be forced to choose,_**

**_One shall disappear and one shall fall,_**

**_The one who follows, taints his name, _**

**_The one who leaves, shall be forgotten,_**

**_Be wary, for soon, two heads shall decide a side._**

_Abraxas believes not of this prophecy, claiming that the woman who we now know to be Maura Trelawny is a hoax of a seer. I do not believe it though._

_I fear, something dark is about to happen, I do not wish for my son and future heirs to take part in this, I have seen evil and it is my desire that evil shall never come near my family again._

_Should this prophecy talk about myself and Abraxas, I know he doesn't believe it, I have decided to slowly ease my family out of pureblood society and soon, the magical world._

_It will not be easy for this world is all I have known, but I must do whatever it takes to spare my son and his future family from the pain this world has caused and taken from us._

_Curt._

Hermione didn't know how she felt after reading that entry, her great grand père was a pureblood who were friends with the Malfoys and he willingly left the magical world to protect his son and future heirs from the impending darkness or evil that was to come over the wizarding world (to be honest, Hermione was touched by what her great grand père did, however she felt it moot as she had been a participant in the second wizarding war, witnessed so much evil and was even tortured because of her supposed blood status, she experienced everything her great grand père set out to prevent happening to his family).

Hermione continued to read, the journal, until she found another interesting entry:

_March 27, 1926_

_I've finally settled everything I need here in the wizarding world, it is amazing how even the many material possessions and properties I have, I've been able to secure and protect them all upon my departure from the wizarding world and someday, my death. I've effectively isolated myself and my son from the rest of our social circle and friends, I have left my will with our family lawyer that upon my leave of absence in the wizarding world, I have entrusted the elves at my manor with the upkeep and protection of all my possessions and properties until such time that my son or future heir, is able to take over. _

_Also I have also noted that I have also entrusted A goblin at Gringotts and his future heirs to protect, manage and ensure the items I have in my vaults as well as all my financial accounts. _

_I have also ensured that my future heir will only be able to access or gain knowledge of everything I've left here five years after my death or until such time that the very evil that was prophesized has been vanquished permanently. Only then will my bloodline return to the wizarding world._

_Tomorrow I will take my son and bid magic good bye._

_Curt._

Hermione was astounded, so there is more to her grandfather inheritance than just this manor? And now that she thought of it; who was this man that approached her grandfather? She added that to the growing list of things she needed to figure out about this whole situation.

Hermione decided to read one last entry before deciding to go to bed,

_April 12, 1926_

_It has been sixteen days since my son and I left wizarding UK, I decided to move somewhere where no one can track us, I've also placed several of my personal undetectable spells on us so that anyone who would think of tracking us down will not be able to._

_Cape town is very different from everything I know, I suppose that in itself is good, the more unfamiliar things are, the more we may be able to live our life in peace. _

_I am now in the process of looking for a job, seeing all these muggles live and strive for a living is odd, but it seems it gives them a sense of pride knowing how hard they worked for their earnings. Yesterday, I went into a job interview with an odd healer who fixes teeth, he claims himself as a dentist, a doctor of teeth. _

_I hope I may get the position! I have never been this interested in something! And to think I find my interest and passion in teeth healing!_

_Davion is adjusting well to his new surroundings, he's beginning to show signs of magic again and it worries me that people here might notice, I've been doing my best to hide it but I do not know how much I can keep doing so without damaging his core._

_Curt._

She thought back to everything she had read tonight but decided to face everything tomorrow as it was now time for bed, she needed to be in tiptop shape tomorrow. Hopefully she'd get a reply in the morning for all the letters she'd sent earlier that day.

* * *

Kingsley Shacklebolt has had a tiring day; technically, he's had a tiring year. Ever since the war ended last year, he had been elected as the new Minister of Magic.

Which means he had a lot on his plate, from rebuilding the magical community of England, to rebuilding the relationship of wizarding UK to other international wizarding communities, also he needed to do damage control in both the wizarding and muggle communities that have been affected by the war, to ensure that the international statute of secrecy is still intact.

So it was no surprise that he was still in his office in the ministry, going through several paper works while his secretary fixed his schedule for the next day.

As he was sifting though his letters and paper works, he came across one envelope that had been buried under a few of his papers.

"Millena, when did this letter arrive?" he asked his secretary from outside his office's open door.

Millena came in and instantly recognized the letter "It arrived around noon, I put it with the rest of the letters earlier." She said.

"That is all, why don't you go home and rest, I'll be out in a few as well." He said. Millena nodded and closed the door as she left the office of the minister.

As soon as his secretary had closed the door, Kingsley sat down and opened the letter.

_Kingsley, _

_I know it's been a year since we last spoke to each other but I have just arrived back from Australia and am now permanently back._

_Some thing about my family has come to light and I find that I am in a difficult situation on how to handle this with my family as they are muggles._

_You see, my grandfather apparently recently came into inheritance of one Garrott Manor and its entire property in Wiltshire and my family has decided to visit said property. Now I have tried my best to adhere to the statute of secrecy but it is getting more difficult as there are house elves and several magical artifacts inside the manor. So far I've managed to avoid any incidents but I am not sure how long I would be able to do so._

_There are also some other things I wish to discuss with you and possibly Madam Professor McGonagall so I would like to invite you over to the manor as soon as possible._

_I've left the floo at my study open so you can floo over any time, I really need your assistance._

_Your friend,_

_Hermione Jean G. Granger._

Kingsley could not believe what he had just read, in fact, he had to at least read the letter three more times just to make sure he had understood it! Hermione Granger is back and she is apparently from the Garrott bloodline!

Quickly, Kingsley packed up his things, magically organized the clutter on his desk and apparated home. As soon as he was home, he took out a quill and parchment and immediately wrote his response to Hermione. After that, he owled the note, and began preparing for bed while reading a few more of his take home paper works.

* * *

The next morning, Hermione woke up to see Tippy on the edge of her bed with a letter in her hands.

"Goodmorning mistress, Tippy has a letter for yous, I stoppsed the owl from flying in cause others might sees it." The elf said, making Hermione smile at the thoughtfulness of Tippy.

"Goodmorning Tippy, and thank you for thinking of what the others will think if they saw an owl with a letter flying around" Hermione replied to the elf as she took the letter from the elf. After that, Tippy disappeared.

As she began to open the letter, Alaia burst through her door "Good you're up! Breakfast is ready and we're going swimming!" she said as she jumped on Hermione's bed purposely landing at the edge of the bed so she could sit facing Hermione.

"Uh good morning to you too Ali, as much as I'd like to swim, I didn't really bring any swim suit so I might pass" Hermione said as much as she loved to swim, she wasn't really in the mood for it today, after all if everything went according to her plans, it would be a very big day for her family today.

"Okay then, after breakfast, we are going shopping for a swim suit and then we're going swimming! You're not backing out of this one my dear long lost cousin! We've got a lot of time to make up! Now get down before your mum or my mum decide to come and fetch you!" Alaia said as she made her way out the door.

Hermione shook her head as her cousin exited her room. She then opened the envelope she hid under her blanket to prevent her cousin from seeing it.

_Hermione,_

_I have to admit I did not expect that letter to contain what it had, but since this seems like an important case, I will be able be there around 2pm today, I've also requested Minerva to come with me and I will also bring someone from the Muggle Liaison Department to ensure what we will be doing there is on official record._

_Kingsley Shacklebolt_

_Minister of Magic_

_The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland_

'Yes!' Hermione thought as her whole being suddenly perked up! Kingsley and McGonagall were coming today! She was finally going to be able to have some of the tension about the whole situation lessen today, at least if everything goes well and her family doesn't freak out too much otherwise today could be a disaster! Hermione put the letter in the study and began her morning routine, after that she went down and met the rest of her family in the front patio where breakfast was being served.


	5. Chapter 5

Are any of you liking this story so far? I hope so! I know I haven't written anything Dramione yet, but I'm getting there! I just wanted a lot of family time before messing this whole thing with whatever! Haha!

**DISCLAIMER:** Harry Potter is JK Rowling's baby all familiar characters belong to her, the ones that are unfamiliar, are mine. :)

* * *

**CHAPTER FIVE: THE BIG REVELATION**

True to Alaia's word, she had dragged Hermione and the rest of her cousins to the car and drove to the town to buy some swimsuits; sunscreen and sun tan lotions, colorful towels, a few sunglasses and flip flops immediately after breakfast but not before Hermione had told her parents and grandparents that they would be having a visitor from her world to explain everything that 's happening to the others as well as to them, she also made sure Tippy knew who the visitors were and to let them in to wait in the biggest study in the manor.

Once they returned to the manor, Hermione was greeted by her parents and told her that three people had arrived just in time and were already in the study so she told her parents to gather everyone and meet her in the study as soon as possible. Hermione left her cousins to her parents who had immediately instructed them to put their purchases in their rooms and head to the west study with their parents as soon as they can.

Hermione made her way to the west study and found three beings facing the window, their backs on to her.

"Minister, Professor" Hermione began, the three soon faced her and the two people she called met her halfway the room "I'm so glad you can make it! I don't really know what to do anymore!"

"Miss Granger it's so good to see you again! I admit I was very shocked to find your letter and I was even more surprised to read what it contained!" Minerva said as she smiled at Hermione and gave her a rare hug.

"I know professor, I was quite shocked to find out about the truth behind my family as well" Hermione said as she faced the minister. With that, the professor transfigured herself into a cat, she would never admit it but she always loved to shock people in style.

"Thank you so much for coming Minister, I hope I didn't bother you too much." She said as she shook his hand.

"It's no bother at all miss Granger, you have no idea how much this discovery of yours means, the Garrott family is one of the oldest and most powerful bloodline ever recorded in history, and to have it surface after almost a hundred years is just remarkable." Kingsley said, "this is Alona Clayworth, head of the Department of Muggle Liaison, she will help inform your family of the wizarding world." He said as the short plump but kind looking woman came forward to shake hands with Hermione.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Granger, your name is famous as the boy who lived himself, I suppose its about to be even more famous now that you have been confirmed as a descendant of the Garrott bloodline." Alona said.

"Thank you so much for coming Miss Clayworth, I do hope you break the news to my family gently, I suppose it will come to them as quite a shock." Hermione said as she let go of Alona's hand.

Her parents and grandparents arrived with the rest of her family, she then requested them to sit on the sofa, but she realized that it wasn't big enough to fit all of them so looking at Kingsley and Alona for permission to use magic, she transfigured the sofa to fit all of her relatives once she had received an approving nod from all three.

"What the hell just happened?" her cousin, Phillip said, as the first to recover from what he and his family had obviously just seen.

"Language, Phillip!" his mother said "but yes, I think we'd all like to know how you did that Minnie" she added as she looked at her niece who was now standing beside three oddly clothed looking people, one dark skinned man wearing a colorful, looking dress beside a grey tabby cat and another fat woman who somewhat looked like she wore an odd version of a business attire, orange with a lot of lace.

"If you would all please sit down, I'd like to explain everything to you, I promise the sofa is safe, I just needed you all to fit in one seat." Hermione said.

Nathan and Ellie both ran and took their place in the elongated sofa and looked at Hermione "Cool! I want to learn how to do that!" Nathan said as Ellie just looked quite in awe. Soon after the rest of the family complied and as soon as everyone was seated comfortably, or as comfortable one could get when they knew their whole lives were about to change, Hermione introduced the three strangers.

"This is going to be quite unbelievable but I assure you, everything I," Hermione then looked at her fellow witches and wizard and corrected herself "we, are about to tell and show you are true. I haven't been completely honest with all of you, but what I'm about to tell you is something that should have never be revealed to anyone who does not possess, uh, a certain gift or talent" She began.

"First off, I'd like to introduce you to Kingsley Shacklebolt" She said as the man moved forward to stand beside her "he is known as the Minister of Magic" she said as she was about to say more, she was cut by her Uncle Howard.

"Magic? Is this some sort of prank Hermione? What are you on about?" he asked.

"I promise you this is no joke, and if you intend to know the whole truth, I'd appreciate it if none of you interfere with what we are about to tell you." She said, she knew her uncle would be the hardest to convince, as he was as logical about things as she.

"No one will interfere until you all are finished, I promise." Her grandfather said, as he looked at his family, as if willing them to disobey "is that understood?"

Hermione thanked her grandfather, as the rest of the family obliged the command of the patriarch.

"And this is Miss Alona Clayworth, she too works with Kingsley at the ministry, she is here to help you adjust after everything that you are about to hear." Hermione said as she gave the floor to Kingsley.

"Thank you Hermione," he said as he began to speak to the rest of her family "my name is Kingsley Shacklebolt and I am the Minister of Magic here in the UK, and before you think that I am a lunatic, I assure you I am not" and to prove that, he took out his wand and cast a spell that produced a lynx that began to run around the room before disappearing.

"We are here because Miss Granger has kindly notified me that your grand father has recently received news that he has inherited this Manor and all of its properties, and seeing as this manor and the other properties are set in the wizarding world, she felt it proper to let you all know of it before anything disastrous occurs." At the word disastrous, a few of her relatives showed signs of worry. "Not that anything could be dangerous to you of course, Hermione had made sure of that before you all stepped in the property, but there are certain laws that prevent us from openly interacting and discussing our world from yours and if you were not notified properly of what this property and manor entails, it might break our agreement with your world." He continued.

"I'm sorry but Hermione, can anyone just please tell us what the whole purpose of this meeting is again? I get we're about to find out something big but can you all please just get to the point and then we can ask questions?" Alaia said, a little put off that her closest cousin had hidden something quite big, it seems, from her.

Hermione looked at Kingsley as if apologizing for being cut off and said "Alright, basically what we all want to tell you is that magic is real and I am part of the wizarding world, I can do magic so that makes me a witch, and by witch I mean I can make potions and cast spells, not those that melt in water, Thomas. I wanted them here because as he said, there are rules to be followed when revealing the truth about my world and because of this manor, you will all now be a part of it." Hermione said.

"What do you mean by this Manor? What's wrong with it?" Her aunt Hennie asked.

"Well, nothing is wrong with it per se, but it is filled with magic and magical objects and beings, and if you all had seen or heard them, it would be a breach of the international statute of secrecy that was formed between our two worlds, not to mention it might scare the lot of you and think that this place is haunted, which it is not, I promise." She said.

"What do you mean magical beings and objects? What magic is there?" Alaia asked.

"Well, first off all, none of us would have seen this place if we were all non-magical because this manor and the rest of the property is protected by an undetectable charm, so I had to remove the charm before you all got here, that's why grand father and I went ahead first." She explained. Soon everyone looked at Davion unbelievingly.

"Dad, you're a wizard? Are you one too mum?" Hennie and Howard asked.

"Uh, not really, your grandfather was a wizard, he left the wizarding world a long time ago, when I was two, I believe, I never practiced magic, I feared it, never understood it so I had him bind my powers so that I would not be able to use it anymore" Davion explained "your mother did the same thing so we both do not practice magic."

"Why can't the rest of us do magic like Minnie can?" Howard asked, it's not that he wanted to do magic, but everything is hereditary and they should have inherited magic if everything they were hearing was true.

This time, Alona had been the one to speak up "It is most likely that when your grandfather bound your father's powers, he turned him into a squib," she said

"A squib?" Howard asked.

"Yes, a squib, a person who is born to magical parents but does not have the capabilities to perform one. Essentially that person may live in the magical world but often prefers to live with muggles or people with not magical abilities or born into a family with magic, as they can relate more to their lifestyle." Alona explained. " Now seeing as your father, Mr. Garrott and your mother, Mrs. Garrott had their powers bound to the point that it is no longer active or possibly even nonexistent, that would make them both squibs. If so, then the possibility of their children possessing active magic is very slim," she said.

"Then why is it that only Hermione can do magic?" Thomas asked.

"Because even if magic in the family bloodline had been suppressed, it will always be in the family, it only becomes dormant. Sometimes, in some cases, when squibs have children of their own, they possess the ability to control magic, there are times, where only one child can do magic or like your case, someone from the next generation can produce magic. There are no patterns or logical way to discover how a person from a non magic family shows signs of magic whilst some do not, which is why Hermione is a witch." Alona said.

"So you're saying that even though none of us can produce magic, someday, one or all of our children might be able to?" Phillip asked.

"Yes, essentially that is how it works" Alona confirmed, "however there is no known way of activating the magic suppressed therefore only those who have shown signs of magic can be considered a witch." she added.

"I'm sorry but I am having a really hard time believing all of this, magic? Really? I don't know the things I've seen but I think some sort of special effects can produce them! I don't know how I can believe what I'm hearing!" Uncle Howard said, as Aunt Henrietta agreed.

Suddenly, the grey tabby cat that sat quietly on the office desk, jumped in the air only to land as an old woman wearing a pointy had and a dark green velvet Cloak looking dress "Do you need anymore proof sir?" the cat turned lady asked. Uncle Howard and the others simply stared and shook their head.

Hermione then took it upon her to introduce her old professor, "This is Professor McGonagall, she has been my teacher for about seven years, since I was eleven, actually." Hermione said. "Ravensdale Academic Institute for the Advance and Gifted, is actually just a cover for my real school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" she said as the lady with the pointy hat came forward and introduced herself to the family.

"We're veering from the subject at hand," Hermione said. "Now I know you all want to know more about the magical world but we need to discuss the manor and grand dad's inheritance" Hermione said as she reminded everyone that they should first discuss the manor.

"Okay, what were you saying about this place again?" Aunt Hennie asked "What was it about magical objects and creatures? I didn't see anything out of place when we got here or while we've been here, to be honest."

"Usually Manors such as these are considered ancestral homes to pureblood families. Pureblood means families who are all born into magical ones through inter-marriages with other magical families, these are often considered as the richest people in society, in your world they can be considered as the 'old rich'. Hermione explained. "As such, Manors such as these are often surrounded by portraits and paintings of the family ancestors" as Hermione was about to say more; her Uncle cut her off.

"What's so wrong with that?" he asked.

"Nothing of course, except that in the wizarding world, photos and portraits of people are able to move and speak for themselves. Something I think you would not appreciate if you had gotten here and saw all of them without being notified first." Hermione said.

"Well, where are these portraits then? I haven't seen one since we got here." Her uncle asked.

"I had them all hidden, at a part of the Manor that we have yet to see." She said plainly.

"And you did that all by yourself?" he asked.

"Of course not! That's another thing about this place that I had to take care of before you lot arrived. Certain creatures often care of places like this, these creatures are usually owned by pureblood families and remain in the family for as long as they are required. They are called house elves.

"I'm sorry, did you just say elves? Now you're telling us Elves are real and that we have one in this very house?" Alaia said, a little bewildered at what her cousin was spewing out.

"Yes, and it seems that great grand père's family is an old family in the wizarding world because this manor currently houses twelve house elves." Hermione said.

"I don't believe this, I can't! How can this all be real?" Uncle Howard said.

"Well, I can show you a house elf if you all want" Hermione said as soon as it was clear they needed to see one, she called Tippy.

"Tippy, can you come here please." Hermione said to no one. A second later an elf wearing a white pillowcase showed up in front of them out of nowhere.

"What the, how did?" Uncle Howard was lost for words.

"Cool! I want one of those!" Nathan said as he excitedly and curiously stared at the creature.

Tippy looked at the people in the couch and reveled at the fact that all of her masters now knew about them and that maybe now they can serve them not hide anymore.

"Mistress is calling for Tippy?" the elf said as she looked at Hermione.

"Yes, I want to introduce you to my family, there will no longer be a need for you and your friends to hide." She said.

At this, the elf's round eyes became even rounder "Oh thank yous mistress! Tippy and friends are happy to finally serve theirs honorable and noble Garrott masters!" Tipp said as she began to hug Hermione's leg.

Hermione's family stared at Hermione as she interacted with the elf as if she did this on a daily basis. As Hermione instructed Tippy to go and inform the rest of the house elves and to only appear later after the whole meeting was done.

Hermione then let Kingsley and Alona explain what the can expect and see about the manor and what the house elves are meant for, of course Hermione reminded them that even if they are there to take care of their needs, they musn't abuse the house elves and must treat them kindly and with respect.

After all the questions have been exhausted, Alona and Kingsley then informed them that since they are now privy to the magical world, they must now be bound to adhere the international statute of secrecy. They explained that they would need to do a spell to ensure they adhere to it and that they would be listed as people who must swear to honor and protect the statute in order to protect both themselves and the wizarding world from any harm or threat. After assuring them that no harm will come to them from being bound to the statute, they all agreed and the spell was performed.

* * *

A/N: Well! Everything is out in the open now! What ever will happen now that they know about Hermione being a witch? :)

Let me know if there are some inconsistenicies please! :)


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX: A PRIVATE REVEALATION.**

After Kingsley and Alona did the spell on her family, they decided to disperse into their own rooms to let the things they now knew sink in. But before Hermione and her parents and grandparents could leave, Kingsley stopped them.

"Miss Granger, I'd like to speak with you and your parents and or course grandparents for a bit please? I know you are all tired but this will only take a moment." The minister said.

As they all sat back in the sofa, Kingsley transfigured a book in the office desk into a chair.

"I couldn't help but notice some of the things you said earlier about this manor being hidden and the elf calling you mistress instead of your grand father, could you please explain to me how you managed to remove the charm around this place?" he began.

"Well grand father told me a spell to do, it was given to him by the lawyer or shall we say arbitrator, because it's clear that whoever informed grand papa here of his inheritance is from the wizarding world, and I did the spells for him" Hermione said

"And the place just appeared? Just like that did you encounter any problems at all?" Kingsley asked.

"Yes, just like that, I didn't really experience any problem at all" Hermione said.

"I got electrocuted by the door knob when I tried to open it, does that count?" Davion said as he recalled that moment.

"Oh yes, and then I realized that the manor probably did not recognize him because the bloodline had been gone for years and a manor as old as this has probably included blood wards to only allow entry to those of the bloodline which must be renewed every twenty years, so I performed the bloodline recognition spell and it granted us entry." Hermione said, "why? Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Not at all Miss Granger, its just that now I feel I must inform you that since you are the one who offered her blood to the property, the manor and the whole property now recognizes you as the sole heir or rather heiress to the Garrott estate, property and accounts." Kingsley informed her.

"What?! That's not possible! My grand papa is the one who inherited all this, not me! It's written in great grand père's will! I just helped him find and enter this place." Hermione said, this is shocking news to her, she didn't really know that offering her blood as the basis of the bloodline recognition spell would mean that she had become the master of the Garrott estate!

"Well Miss Granger, seeing as the house elves now consider you as their mistress and obey you, you now hold the reigns to the entire Garrott Fortune and as you are the only one in your family capable of performing magic, you are the only legitimate heiress, even if your grand father is the one who is written in the will." Alona explained.

Hermione was stunned; she didn't mean to take any of this away! It was her grand father's birthright!

"Grand dad, I'm sorry" she said, tears of guilt forming in her eyes, "I didn't mean to take your inheritance, I just wanted to help" she said not even able to prevent her tears from falling.

Her grand mother moved to seat on her other side and said "Oh sweet heart, its not your fault, don't cry."

Hermione's mother and father moved close to her and held her hand to comfort her too, saying that she only did what she was told and that she did nothing wrong.

"Oh Minnie, how can you ever think you'd disappoint me? Come here" Davion said as he stood up and opened his arms to let his grand daughter in, "I know you didn't mean to take anything from me, this manor and everything your great grand père left here in the wizarding world is yours. You are the only one who can claim them with magic and I still have no interest in keeping it, you deserve all of this and it comforts me to know that you will live a comfortable life here in the wizarding world." He said as he hugged continued to hug Hermione, who was still crying in his arms.

Hermione soon stopped crying and nodded in understanding that she now had to take care of her family's fortune in the wizarding world.

"Kingsley, thank you for informing us of this turn of event, I honestly have no clue what to do now. But thank you for informing me." Hermione said.

"It's no problem at all Miss Granger, if you want, I could look into your family's arbitrator to help you with settling the Garrott fortune and properties once more." Kingsley said.

"Thank you Minister, that would be most helpful." Hermione said as she shook the minister's hand.

The conversation soon ended and the Minister, Alona and McGonagall soon left via floo.

* * *

Hermione, her parents and grandparents soon exited the study to return to their respective rooms, as they were nearing the staircase, her aunt and uncle-approached Hermione's parents and grand parents.

"Mum, dad, Helen, we need to talk to you about this whole thing" Henrietta began. "I can't believe you hid something that big from us, I mean not really, I understand but we just need to understand a few things" she said as the adults moved their conversation in the living room, or the one room closest to the staircase.

Hermione made her way up to her room and lay down on her bed, she would have loved to read her great grand père's journal more but right now she just had way too much to think about and she just wanted her brain to rest a little.

Her rest was short lived though because exactly thirty minutes later, her cousins stormed in her room and attacked her bed one by one.

"Okay, now that we've let the 'information' sink in, we want details!" Alaia began, as she made sure to emphasize the word information with the quote and unquote sign with her fingers.

Hermione felt relieved to see the twinkle and glee her cousins had in their eyes, truth be told, Hermione was afraid her cousins might hate her for keeping something so big from her, now that she knew they weren't she felt herself relax a little.

"Well, now that you're all bound to my world, what do you want to know? I'll tell you anything I can so long as you promise not to say a word to anyone about it!" she said s she gently flicked Nathan's little nose.

"Yeah, we know, statute of secrecy and all, seriously though I always knew you were a witch! You never could have gotten all the bigger cookies without magic! Especially cause the cookies were always the same size when put into the jar!" Phillip said as the two of them laughed at the memory. They always used to compete on who was going to get the bigger cookie and Hermione always got the bigger one.

"Okay, so tell us about your school!" Alaia said as she moved to lie beside Hermione, "Now that we know Ravensdale is a bogus school we want to know everything about your real school!"

"Alright, first of all, I went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I was first informed of it two months before I turned eleven because that's when you start at Hogwarts, it was Professor McGonagall,-" Hermione was interrupted by Ellie.

"The cat lady?" Ellie asked,

Hermione nodded her head, "yes, the cat lady" she said to Ellie "and when my parents finally came around, she led us to this place called Diagon Alley where I could get my school things." She said. She proceeded to tell them about how she went to Hogwarts, how her first year was (omitting her adventures with Harry and Ron, of course) she also told them about the history of Hogwarts, what could be found in the school grounds and what the school's curriculum was.

Her cousins were in awe of Hogwarts! And at that moment she wished she could take them there but seeing as the school was enchanted so that only squibs and magical beings can see them, she knew it was impossible for them to see the actual school.

Her cousins continued to ask her about the magical world and she answered them as honestly and simple as she could.

As they were talking, they suddenly heard a tapping sound, as they turned to the source of the sound, they found an owl tapping the window in Hermione's room.

"Minnie, why is the owl tapping your window?" Nathan asked.

Hermione opened the window to let the owl in. As the owl entered, it landed on the stand beside the window and extended its leg so that Hermione can untie the letter attached to it.

Hermione realized she hadn't put out her owl treats so after she untied the letter from the owl, she accio'd her beaded bag and dug her hand inside to search for her reserve owl treats and gave one to the owl.

Her cousins did nothing but watch Hermione interact with the owl as if it were a normal occurrence then they watched her take out her wand and mumble something and immediately a beaded handbag traveled into her hand. They also watched her (now obviously wide eyed and mouth open) as she dug her hand, then her whole arm inside the small bag and produce some treats that she fed to the owl before picking up the letter and sitting on the bed again.

"Okay, what the hell just happened?" Alaia shouted.

Hermione looked at her cousins, forgetting they were there for a moment, "Owls are the most common way witches and wizards communicate, think of owls as the mail men of the wizarding world." She said as she held on to the letter, still unopened.

"And the bag? You weren't holding it before then all of a sudden you were! What is that? Mary Poppins' bag?!" Alaia asked again, just because she now knew of magic doesn't mean she's used to seeing it being done.

"I cast a spell that would get me the hand bag, I needed the owl treats in my bag for the owl to eat, I cast an undetectable extension charm on it so I can put a lot of things in." she said as she grabbed the shopping bag from inside her bag and proceeded to open it and discard the items inside: a book, a shirt, the slim black halter top bikini she bought today that she told her cousin she didn't buy, and the rest of the owl treats; all of which returned to their normal sizes as soon as she took them out of the bag.

"Woah! Cool!" Her cousins said as Ellie grabbed the bag to see what else was inside; Phillip, Thomas and Nathan also took a peek in the bag.

"I knew you bought this bikini, I just didn't know where you put it!" Alaia said when she saw the bikini.

Hermione blushed a deep red, "It looked so nice and well, no one is going to see me wear it any way, other than you lot of course." She explained.

As the cousins all talked about what else the wizarding world has to offer, and making Hermione cast spells that are of no harm, Tippy the house elf decided to appear.

"Begging your pardon, Mistress" Tippy said as she carefully approached her mistress and her cousins.

"But the others is wonderin' if we may prepare dinner now for the masters?" Tippy asked.

"Oh, right, well, I have to talk to the adults about it first but I'll let you know later." Hermione said as she stood up and approached Tippy.

"Minnie! It's the elf!" Nathan said as he jumped of the bed and approached Tippy.

"I is Tippy, Master Nathan" Said Tippy as she bowed very low.

"Tippy! What an odd name, its nice to meet you!" Nathan said as he offered his hand to Tippy.

Tippy looked at Hermione, uncertain of what to do, a master has never offered their hand for an elf to shake before. After seeing Hermione encourage her, she took the hand and bowed once more and said, "I is honored to hold the hand of master Nathan sir"

"You're funny" Nathan said, "why do you wear a pillowcase? Do you not have clothes?"

At this Hermione knew how Tippy would react so she immediately said "Tippy, it was only a question, please do not take it personally. Please go inform the other elves that I shall be meeting them in the main living room in an hour." Hermione thought 'better keep her busy before she cries'.

"Tippy do's as mistress wish" and with that Tippy disappeared with a pop.

"Minnie, why'd she leave? Did I say something wrong?" Nathan asked, a little sad the elf seemed to take something he said wrong.

Hermione lifted her cousin and brought him back on the bed where the other were watching the scene from earlier, "You didn't do anything wrong Nathan, its just that in the wizarding world, house elves are considered as slaves, most wizarding families who can afford to buy house elves are often cruel and so they were given pillowcases instead of proper clothes to remind them that they are just property, not worthy of any opinion other than to serve their masters." Hermione explained. She was still put off that her S.P.E.W. campaign never took off, the house elves themselves fought her against it!

"That't awful! And you said our family owns twelve of them?" Alaia asked as the others agreed with her sentiment.

"I know but it seems that the house elves here are treated well, their pillowcases are clean and they seem to have a set of them, most of the ones I've met only have one and they are extremely dirty and mistreated" Hermione said as she remembered Dobby, Winky, and Kreacher. "I started a campaign for their welfare back in school but no one supported it, not even the house elves!"

"Well, at least we can treat our elves properly!" Alaia said.

"Yes, anyway, before the minister left, he talked to grand mum and dad as well as my parents and I. so there's one more thing I apparently need to talk to all of you about so why don't we join the adults in the living room. I really don't feel like doing this twice." Hermione said, as she made sure that the owl was now comfortable resting before following her cousins out the door.

* * *

Arriving at the living room, Hermione was glad to find the adults were still sitting there, amicably chatting, it seems.

"Ah darling, there you are!" Helen said as she encouraged the children to sit down.

"Now, that we all know about Hermione and the wizarding world, we have something we want to discuss with you all." Their grandfather said.

"We all know that in the beginning this whole manor and everything it entails, was given to me by my father" Davion began, Hermione then knew what the adults had talked about and was grateful she didn't have to break the news to anyone anymore!

"As Hermione said earlier, she had cast a series of spells to enable us to enter this manor, and with that, she needed to offer a bit of her blood for the property to recognize our bloodline, unknown to Hermione, when she gave her blood to allow us entrance, the property made her the legitimate heir to the entire Garrott property and fortune. Which means that as of today, this manor and everything that the Garrott family owns in the magical world, is under her rightful name." Davion said; proud that he had understood and delivered his speech and decision well.

"So this is Minnie's house now?" Thomas asked," this is so unfair! First we find out she's the only one who can do magic and now she owns everything great grand père left behind?!" he argued.

"Thomas Robin Garrott Smith!" Aunt Hennie shouted as she stood up to face her youngest son, "I am disappointed in you, you know the circumstances surrounding Hermione and this property in out of her control, she didn't choose to become a witch, she has been one ever since she was born and she has lived in the wizarding world alone without us to support her so you do not speak to your cousin like that! You will apologize to her this instant!"

Thomas had the decency to be embarrassed and turned to a shocked and sad looking Hermione and said, "Sorry Minnie, this is just too much to take in a day, you know?" Hermione smiled and nodded, saying she understood and didn't blame him for lashing out.

"Anyway, seeing as Hermione has inherited everything in the wizarding world, we've all decided that everything our family owns in the muggle world will be divided to all of you" Their grandmother said as she explained how it will be divided, Hermione's parent's practice and share will of course be left to Hermione, in the even that one day she herself bears a squib or like her grandparents, is not interested in magic. The rest of the dental practice, the summer homes, and accounts will be divided into her cousins after the death of their parents or upon such time, as they are capable and responsible of managing their inheritance.

After the family had settled their financial affairs, Hermione decided it was time to breach the topic the house elves have been dying for her to tell them.

"Before everyone goes back up, I have a few things I need to clear up" Hermione said as she stood and faced everyone. "So as you all know, this manor has creatures called house elves, they basically take care of the people inside the house, cook clean, run errands of any kind" she explained "any well, they've been asking me to assign them their own masters so if you all don't mind me assigning one to each of you? It's just that as the Mistress of the manor, I have to be the one to give them to you as your personal elf, but I thought you might not be comfortable with that which is why I'm asking you now."

"Can we see them?" her mum asked. Hermione nodded and proceeded to call on Tippy. When she appeared, Hermione requested her to call all the other house elves and soon they popped in one by one. Soon all twelve elves were facing their future potential masters.

"So they are house elves, if you want you can choose which one of them you want" Hermione said but it seems her family is still to stunned to talk or eve make a decision so instead she turned to the equally awed elves and told them to approach whomever they desired to serve from her relatives, which of course the house elves carefully approached and tugged on the pant leg of their chosen personal masters.

This seemed to make her relatives come out of being stunned and so each member began to interact with their new personal elves.

"Okay, basic rules when dealing with house elves, please do not ask or present them with any item of clothing, from socks to shirts, trust me you do not want to know what happens, next just because they are your personal elves doesn't mean you should treat them badly, please treat them with kindness and respect the way you would a human being, and last they will be preparing dinner at the west dinner room." Hermione said although the third rule really was for the elves, she now understood that elves really do love what they do and that as long as she treated and anyone else treats them with kindness and respect then she could deal with them being ordered around.

* * *

A/N  
So about to introduce some familiar characters soon! :)

I know these chapters seem kind of boring but I did say this fic would be about Hermione's family and their reaction to the wizarding world. Also I really need these chapters to lay out some of what will be happening in future chapters! So please bear with me! :)

xx


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN: FAMILIAR FACES**

* * *

Hermione was exhausted by the time she got back in her room, her family had bonded over with their house elves, and had eaten their fist house elves made meal (which was of course, to the satisfaction of her family) and now she was back in her room finally ready to for bed.

As she went under the covers, she suddenly remembered the letter she had left unopened when her cousins were in her room so, taking the envelope from under her pillow; she opened it and began to read:

_Mione,_

_We're so glad you're finally back! _

_We have a lot of catching up to do! Let us know when you're free and we'll meet up! We miss you so much!_

_Love,_

_Harry and Ron_

_P.S._

_Mum wanted to let you know what we'll be having a party two Fridays from now so be she said you better be there! She's making your favorite chicken potpie! So you really got to be there or I'm eating all of that!_

_Love again,_

_Ron_

Hermione smiled, she had missed her boys and it wasn't easy to send owl posts when you live miles away so they rarely were able to talk, Harry and Hermione did occasionally send emails to one another though and even though Ron was bad at it in the beginning, Harry was able to teach him the basics of it, of course Ron being Ron, every time she corresponded with them, it was always Harry who talked to her and Ron just told Harry what he wanted to say to her instead of sending her an email himself.

Stowing the letter on her bedside table, she decided to send her reply tomorrow when she wakes up, especially since she noticed that the owl who delivered the note was now nowhere to be seen, 'maybe Tippy sent it to the owlery to rest for the night' she thought, and so she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Draco Malfoy looked around his family's manor. A lot had happened here, mostly dark and unpleasant events but at the end of the day it was still where he grew up, it was still where his family lived.

After the war, the Malfoy family was freed of any crimes during the war, even though it was known that they were death eaters (even though Narcissa never took the dark mark), it was found out that the Malfoys had only done so in order to protect their family and that despite the public display of torturing their victims, once they were kept in the dungeons, away from other death eaters, the Malfoys had taken care of them, even to the point where they had contacted the order to attack the manor and rescue the prisoners when they got too many, soon after an attack was made and not only were the prisoners rescued but also the Malfoys.

While Narcissa and Draco came under the protection of the Order, Lucius had stayed and acted as a spy for the order, his role as a spy became the very reason for the Order to win the war against Voldemort in the Battle at Hogwarts.

Of course, even though the truth of their side had been revealed during their trials, some people still refused to believe what the truth was. So after being freed of all charges, the Malfoy family took their important belongings and fled to America to recuperate and lay low (or to lay low as only the Malfoys could, socializing with the American elite witches and wizards) for a while.

Narcissa looked around her home as she took off her cloak; her house elf lippy appears and takes it from her "Lippy welcomeses Young Master and Mistress Malfoy back!"

"Thank you Lippy, it's good to be back, how was everything been since we left? I trust there were no problems?" she said as she looked at her elf and walked further into the manor.

"No mistress, after yous left, we protectes the manor, no one got inside after the ministry peoples left. We keeps the manor cleans and the gardens perfects just the ways yous likes it" the elf said, beaming at their accomplishments while their masters were away.

"That's very good Lippy, please make sure to take the rest of my things back in the bed room, and take some chamomile tea up as well, I'm feeling rather tired from traveling back here from America and I would like to rest for a while, perhaps take a nap, Also, if it would be okay with you dear" she said as she turned to Draco who still stood exactly where he did when they entered the manor, "I'd like to have dinner in my room, if you would like to join me for dinner, you know where to find me." She said.

"It's fine mother, I'm rather tired myself so I might just sleep in for the rest of the day, I'll try to drop by your room later if I wake up." Draco said as he moved forward and called another house elf named Dibbo. As soon as the house elf popped in, he instructed the creature to take his belongings up in his room and to bring him a cup of tea and a light sandwich in his room as well.

After the elves popped away, he offered his mother his arm as he led her up to her room.

"Draco, I know moving back here is very difficult but I'd like you to give this home another chance, I promise, once your father arrives I'll do a major renovation. I can't live in the manor's darkness anymore as well. Please, please consider staying." She said as they mother and son duo walked up to their rooms.

"I can't guarantee that mother but I need to get my bearings on the wizarding world here before making my final decision, I'll stay until I figure things out." He replied. They didn't talk the rest of the way after that, both deep in their own thoughts until they arrived in Narcissa's room and then he went to his own room.

* * *

**NEXT DAY**

Hermione woke up early the next day, last night during dinner, she and her cousins had planned to go on a morning run around the manor grounds so at 5 am sharp. It was their tradition every summer, no matter where their family vacations were, to always set at least one morning for a jog. As she got off her bed, she went inside the bathroom and washed her face, brushed her teeth and changed into a pink shirt, a black jacket, running shorts and her running shoes, she also stashed her wand inside a smaller bag which she also charmed with an undetectable extension charm and put her iPod, wand and lip balm and extra hair tie in and put the bag inside her jacket's front pocket. After that she combed and tied her hair into a ponytail and by 5:30 am, she was out of her bedroom door.

By the time she reached the stairs, Alaia and Phillip had caught up with her already.

"Good Morning Herms! Race you outside!" Phillip said as he immediately ran down the stairs before the two girls could even take one step down.

Hermione shook her head and laughed, it was always their antic when she and Phillip were young, they would compete in everything but in the end they always had each other's back.

"Ugh please Minnie, it's too early for competition, save it for when we actually start running." Alaia said, clearly her cousin was never a morning person but always joined them in their morning jogs because it had become some sort of a tradition within them cousins.

Hermione locked her arm in her cousins and led her down the stairs "Come on, let's go see who else is already down there."

Once they arrived outside, they saw that Thomas and Phillip were already there and that the two youngest were also on the way out, if the sound of two people racing down the stairs were any indication.

Once they were complete, they all began to warm up and stretch and after that they all began their morning jog.

* * *

When Draco woke up the next morning, he hadn't expected to be shocked, at first he didn't realize where he was, only that he was not in his room in America, then he remembered that they were back in the UK and he lay back down and cover his head with a pillow. It wasn't a very Malfoy thing to do, but he was alone and in his room, he could afford to do un-Malfoy-ish things there.

After acting so un-Malfoy like, he got off his bed and walked into his bathroom to prepare for the day. After taking a shower, he found that Dibbo had laid his clothes down for him already so he wore them and went on his way to see his mother.

As he was walking down the hallway, he noticed that the curtains that were so often closed were now open. As he looked at the view presented to him, he was glad that even after they left, the gardens were still as beautiful.

He did notice one thing different from this view though, at the end of their property, stood a huge manor and from the looks of it, he was looking at the back portion of the property. He thought back to the times when he would sneak a peak under the curtains or whenever he flew outside if he ever noticed the manor, surely a manor with a property as large as that is hard to miss, right? When Draco could no longer think of whether or not he had seen that manor before, he decided to ask his mother about it. Surely they would have known that they had a neighbor after all the years they've lived here, right?

When Draco arrived at his mother's parlor for breakfast, he saw that his mother had yet to arrive. So he went and sat down at his usual seat at the table whenever he and his parents took their meals there.

It wasn't long until he heard the clacking of his mother's heels growing louder until she reached the parlor.

"Draco darling, you're up early dear." She said as she made her way to her son to greet him with kiss and hug which Draco reciprocated.

"Yes, well I suppose I'm still on a different time zone. No matter, I see you're up early too." He said as he guided his mother toward her usual chair.

Once his mother was seated, he made his way back to his seat and as soon as he sat down, the house elves began to pour hot breakfast tea in their cups while they took their servings of food into their plate.

As the breakfast table was cleared of food, the house elves leaving only a tea and a few breakfast scones while Draco and his mother talked idly.

"So what are you planning to do today?" Narcissa asked as she stirred her tea with a teaspoon after adding a bit o honey into the teacup.

"I don't really have any plans mother, I'll probably just get reacquainted with my room, maybe take a walk in the garden, how about you?" he asked as he stared at his teacup before lifting it and sipping some of its content.

"Well, it seems that some of my friends have heard that we have arrived and sent owls earlier this morning requesting to meet for tea or lunch so I might just write them to come over as I have no desire to be seen out in the wizarding world just yet." She said as she requested a house elf to fill her teacup halfway with more tea.

"Alright, I'll keep out of your way today then" he said as he began to stand up, "mother, before I forget, I know this seems silly, but on my wing, I noticed the curtains were open and I never noticed that we had neighbors." Draco asked as he turned around to face his mother who was still sitting at the table.

"Neighbors? We have no neighbors, has someone built a house near the property? The wards around the property prevents muggles from inhabiting any immediate area that surround the whole estate, so it would have been impossible for you to se a house to consider a neighbor." She said, looking a bit confused.

"Well, it's not really a house, it's more like a manor, which if you think about it, seems silly of me to never notice it. I mean I fly around the estate a lot so I would have seen a manor as big as that from up in the air." He said.

"A manor? That's impossible! The only manor that was supposedly near this one is the Garrott Manor, and everyone knows that place disappeared almost a long time ago when the last descendant disappeared! Unless…" Narcissa said as she stood up and approached her son. "I want to see this Manor." She said as she half ran and half dragged her son up to his wing.

* * *

Hermione sat on a stool while her hand supported her chin by her elbow as she chatted with Alaia and their mother's while waiting for breakfast to be served.

"Finny, are you sure you don't need any help? I can make Hermione's bacon" Helen said, she wasn't used to having help around her house, even though her family had capable means to get a maid, she never did so when she married and had a family of her own.

"No miststress, you is my mistress, I is take cares of yous and helps yous. I knows how Lady Hermione likses her Bacon, I is watched you when you firsts gets here." Finny said as she added a new batch of uncooked bacon into the frying pan.

"Mum, let her be, I learned the hard way back in Hogwarts that if you force them to accept your help in any way, they'll ban you from entering the kitchen." Hermione said as she snacked on some peeled oranges the house elves had laid out for the girls and mothers to munch on while they waited on the men to arrive. However once the food was ready and none of the men came down, Henrietta called for her house elf.

"Lowe" she called, immediately after she called out the name, the house elf appeared, bowing down to her, "Please inform all of the men still sleeping that breakfast is served and if they want to get some food into their system before leaving, they better get themselves down here now." She instructed.

"I shalls do that now mistress" Lowe said bowing again before popping away.

"I didn't even get to say thank you" she complained, "she always pops away after I tell her something!" Henrietta said as she stood and grabbed a glass on the counter and filled it with water.

"It's so odd to have people waiting around your beck and call, even weirder when they're house elves." Alaia said to Hermione, "I still feel like everything is so surreal!" she added.

Hermione nodded and said "I know how you feel, I used to spear head this campaign back in school, the Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare or S.P.E.W., and let me tell you, the only thing I got out of it were a lot of angry and wary elves! The elves at Hogwarts even refused to let me enter the kitchens for fear that I might free them!" Hermione said, at this Finny and another house elf, gasped and looked at their new lady of the manor, fear evident in their big round eyes, Hermione noticed this and added "of course in the end I had to let go of S.P.E.W. and accept the fact that the elves are happy with what they do. I won't free you if you don't want me to but I will request you all to wear cleaner pillow cases if you don't want proper uniforms" she said looking at Finny, the other house elf and Lowe who had just arrived to inform them that everyone was already at the table.

As they made their way to the breakfast room where everyone was at, Alaia and Hermione had asked their mother's permission if they could go back to town as they were the designated buyers by their cousins; and buy a few drinks and chips as they were planning on chilling by the pool with the rest of their cousins for the day while the adults went about their own business. Once they got their mother's permission, they went and had breakfast with the rest of the family.

* * *

Draco was lying in his room tossing a small stress ball up as he caught it before hitting him in the face when all of a sudden; there was a knock on his door.

"Hey mate! Long time!" said the man who stood outside his bedroom door.

"Blaise! What are you doing here?" Draco asked as he opened the door more to let his friend inside, once he was in, he closed the door and sat on the edge of his bed.

"Well, mum and I got back two months ago, mum found out you guys were back so she's down stairs with your mum right now, I suspect Nott and Greengrass' mothers are on their way too. You know our mothers." He said as he took a seat at the armchair at the corner by the window that faces the bed.

"Well, I suppose you're right. Our mothers are inseparable." Draco said as he went to the bookshelf and grabbed a book to read. "How's everything been since I left?" Draco asked.

"Wouldn't know really, as I said, we've only been back two months, but I suppose everything seems to be a lot better, Diagon Alley's getting back to its feet, Hogwarts is still opening this year, I suppose the only thing that's changed is that there are a lot less purebloods now out and about than before" Blaise said, his hands clutching the arm rest rather hard. "They think that just because of what your last name is, you're already bad. Can you imagine, fighting and winning a war that was about prejudice only to have the winning side be prejudiced to those purebloods who had nothing to do with the war but had the unfortunate circumstance of being associated with someone who fought for Voldemort."

"Well, what can you say, Karma's a bitch." Draco said. When he didn't hear a reply from Blaise, he looked up and saw him staring at him with a confused expression on his face. Realizing what he just said, "it's muggle expression I learned back in America" he explained.

Blaise's eyes suddenly widened with shock, as he processed what Draco had just said, "Did you just use a muggle expression?" at the shrug of Draco's shoulder, he continued "My Merlin! Draco Malfoy, did you associate with muggles while you were in America?" he asked, clearly amused at what he was getting from Draco.

"I did. When we stayed in America I decided to live away from my parents, I felt like I needed to get away from them; from their influences, I realized I never really had the right to judge muggles and their way of life cause I've never tried it so a few months after we settled there, I moved out, got a small job and tried to understand muggles a bit more." He said as he put the book back in the bookshelf and turned back to his friend, "turns out they aren't that bad. I began to appreciate how they live, and they're pretty ingenious you know, inventing a lot of things because they don't have magic. Some of them are pretty advanced stuff, even their hospitals are better than ours." He said.

"Wow. I never thought I'd see the day where a Malfoy would praise and appreciate muggles. The world has changed!" Blaise said jokingly to which he earned a punch in his arm.

"Whatever, why don't we go out and fly for a bit, like old times sake, we could catch quaffles like we used to." Blaise offered.

"Sure, why not. It's not like I have anything better to do anyway." Draco said as they two best friends made their way out of the bedroom.

Hermione and Alaia got back to the manor with an armful of paper bags filled with soda's and junk food and three matching tote bags that were perfect for the beach or hanging by the pool.

Out of nowhere, Tippy and Cassy; Alaia's house elf, appeared out of nowhere and took the groceries from their mistresses. After thanking the house elves, Hermione instructed them to place the junk food in separate bowls and to keep the sodas in a chiller filled with ice and set it on the pool area. After the house elves disappeared, the girls went to their respective rooms to change into their swimsuits, and carrying their tote bags with their essentials inside it and made their way to the pool where their cousins were now lounging about.

* * *

AN: So, I know this is a little bit of a light chapter with little events happening, but please remember that this is just a light fan fic where I can show Hermione's family more since there's not a lot known about them in the books and movies. But well, next chapter will be interesting (sort of, I think) I promise! :)


	8. Chapter 8

**CREDITS TO JK ROWLING **

**CHAPTER EIGHT: FLY BY**

* * *

Narcissa Malfoy was back in her element, well sort off, she used to love small social gatherings such as tea with her friends before the war but after everything and living in America for a year, she felt a little out of place. Of course it was probably the same for all of her friends too since they all left England to live elsewhere while the after effects of war died down a little.

"Oh this is ridiculous!" said Essandra Nott suddenly as she put her teacup down, "We can't possibly pretend to go and act as if we were still the respectable pureblood wives we were taught to be! I mean, not that we're not respectable, but a lot has happened and I feel that we should at least now be able to let go of such formalities whenever we meet up! We've all been friends for as long as our children were born for Merlin's sake, we've earned the right to be informal with each other, don't you think?" she complained.

After the war, she and her son left England in favor of travelling across Asia. After the death of her husband during the war, she could not stay and let her and her son be subjected to the judgmental looks of those who had opposed her husband's belief. Having grown up in Spain where blood prejudice was not an issue in the magical community, she never felt the need to be disgusted by muggleborns, of course her family believed that they were superior in small ways, but not enough to cause harm and disrespect to muggleborns in their community. All that changed when her family vacationed in England after she graduated from Escuela mágica de España at the age of seventeen and met her father's long time friend and business partner, Alexandrius Nott and his son Theodore who at the time had also just graduated from Hogwarts and was being taught by his father the ropes on the family business.

The younger Nott took an interest in her, which she had reciprocated and thus began courting her, with their parent's approval of the match, marriage contracts were drawn and a year later they were married. She loved her husband but it wasn't until she had married him and moved to his family's manor in England that she realized that her husband's hatred and prejudice towards muggleborns ran so deep that a year after they had married, he joined a man who had promised her husband that he would eliminate muggleborns and blood traitors from the Wizarding world and ensure the rightful place of all purebloods.

She tried to confront him about his decisions and his actions toward muggleborns but after taking a few beatings and the birth of her son, she decided to take her mother in law's advice that a pureblood wife's place is beside her husband and in bed while ensuring the continuation of the family's bloodline and taking care of the children's welfare. She focused her time and attention into raising her son they way he would be different from his father but still ensuring he would never be subjected to his father's hand the way she was.

Stella Greengrass put her saucer and teacup down and sighed, "I suppose you're right. Times have changed and I can feel it in the air; our culture is about to change and I feel that it is time we abide by the tides of change rather than against it." She said.

"I do think you are correct. Ever since I lived in America and witnessed their social parties, both pureblood and the muggle world, mind you; I've felt that their social gatherings, no matter how grand were always less formal and more social. Of course there were always the usual talk of business but it always seemed more…" Narcissa said as she pursed her lips as she tried to come up with a word appropriate for what she wanted to convey, "…Jovial. Now that I'm back and am recalling all those pureblood etiquette lessons I've been taught all my life, I can't help but feel stiff and limited in terms of socializing even if its just us. Do you know what I mean?" she asked.

"Yes, I do know what you mean, I feel that moving away from England for a year has changed us all!" Sylvia Zabini said as she joined her friends' conversation.

"So letting formalities aside, how have you all been?" Narcissa said as she refilled her tea and sat back on her chair as she leaned on her side. All the formalities and proper etiquette the pureblood women have been taught her momentarily dropped as they began to recall they're experiences over the year they were all overseas.

"Oh! Before I forget, I must tell you something utterly fascinating that happened this morning!" Narcissa said as she suddenly remembered and began to relay what she and her son had talked about regarding a manor that appeared out of nowhere which she believes is the Garrott Manor.

Shocked at what she had just said, Stella was the first to speak "Are you sure it's the Garrott Manor? That's amazing! We all thought they'd died out years ago! If that's true then a powerful family has just reentered our world! That's amazing!"

"Yes, I'm sure, after Draco went into his room, I went to the library and got a book on pureblood family history and their homes and there it was! The manor right across my home!" Narcissa said, still amazed at the fact that she was neighbors with an ancient family, more ancient and said to be more powerful than her own and the family she married into. "I wonder who lives there now." She wondered out loud.

As the mothers began to once again gossip away as if they were in a slumber party, they didn't notice the two boys in the hallway making their way to the garden with brooms in hand.

* * *

Alaia and Hermione arrived in the pool area 20 minutes later, their newly bought tote bag in hand which had their towels, tanning and sunscreen lotion.

She noticed that the chips and the drinks she ordered were already placed on a table and were currently being magically refilled by the house elves.

"Minnie! The bowl won't run out of chips! The elves snapped their fingers and now the bowls just keep refilling themselves! This is so awesome!" Nathan said as he waddled inside his inflatable ring buoy.

"I know, Nathan, it's great isn't it?" Hermione said as she and Alaia placed their things in one of the lounge chairs that were situated at the left side of the pool.

Once they did, the girls took off their shorts and shirts, revealing their bikinis, Alaia wore a yellow string bikini while Hermione opted for a simple black bandeau style bikini.

"Woah there Minnie! Australia certainly changed you!" Thomas said, "Looks like Alaia's not the only one we've got to keep an eye on anymore Phil!" he said as he crossed his arms at the edge of the pool near the girls so he could keep his head up while the rest of his body was submerged in water.

Phillip who was seating by the edge beside Thomas looked at the girls and said, "I see your point, you certainly lost weight Min, you look good though. But do us boys a favor and not wear what Alaia wears when we go outside, I know she'll force you to flaunt what you've got." Phillip said laughing. He knew his sister loved to dress their cousin up but he also knew she could use a lot more clothing in her closet.

"Oh come off it!" Alaia said to the boys, "You do look great Minnie, you look skinnier than before but also lean and toned." She said to her cousin. To be honest, she sort of envied her now, usually it was Alaia that was considered the better looking of the two of them but now Hermione certainly changed a lot, physically that is, mentally she was still her compassionate, nerdy, lovable cousin.

"Stop it you guys! It's weird you're checking out my body when you're my cousins!" Hermione said, clearly uncomfortable with the looks she was getting from all her cousins.

"Sorry, it's just you've never worn bikinis before and now here you are. Australia really did do wonders for you and your confidence huh" Thomas said.

"Well, try living in Australia where the beach is just a walk away, my friends back in Australia helped me see that there was nothing wrong in wearing a bikini when appropriate plus it allows a more even tan. " Hermione said, it wasn't her fault that her parents had enrolled her to work out with a personal trainer to help her get back to a more normal weight when they noticed how thin and unhealthy looking she was when she finally returned their memories. Hunting Horcruxes, running from the ministry and foraging for food and fighting a war would do that to you, but she couldn't really tell that to her cousins now could she?

"And she also made more friends!" Phillip as he playfully point out the fact that Hermione used to have a hard time making friends because people often got intimidated by her attitude.

"Oh! Go play with Ellie!" Hermione said as she sat down and began to rummage her bag for her sunscreen lotion and apply it on her arms, legs and waist then asking for Alaia to cover her back with it too. After she helped her cousin with covering her back too while the boys left them alone to play with their two younger cousins.

* * *

"Malfoy, do you think we can fly over that manor? See what it looks like from the top?" Blaise asked. They had been flying around and passing the quaffle between them for a while until Blaise's curiosity finally got the best of him.

"I don't know mate, the wards around that manor is probably as old as the ones back home but if they haven't reinforced all of it I suppose it won't hurt." Draco said.

"Well, only one way to find out." Blaise said as he swerved his broom towards the grand property with Draco soon following him.

A few minutes later, Draco and Blaise were hovering near the edge of the Garrott Property.

"Blimey, this place is huge! The manor looks way larger than yours mate!" Blaise said as he took in the expansive view of the property and the manor. "Come to think of it, the whole property is larger than the whole Malfoy estate." He added, just to get a reaction out of Draco.

"Yeah well, its not well protected as Malfoy Manor is it?" he replied irritatingly annoyed at what Blaise was insinuating! Malfoy's were powerful and rich! So what if this place seemed larger? No one even really knows who was currently occupying the place! As if to prove a point, he moved forward onto the property. Once he made it past the edge of the property where the wards would begin, he was thankful that he was correct in assuming that the wards had not been fully reinforced yet. Soon Blaise followed Draco as he realized it was safe to fly over the property.

As they flew around the property, they soon saw what looked like a large swimming pool with a couple of people in them, 2 children and two teenage boys but what really got Draco and Blaise's attention were the two girls that were sun bathing in the lounge, one in a yellow bikini with her hair down and another wearing a black bikini with her hair up in a messy bun.

"Mate look at that! I've never seen girls wear that in a pool before! Not that I'm complaining cause I am really enjoying the view." Blaise said as he looked at the girl's bodies appreciatively, he suddenly had the urge to land there and introduce himself, but knowing that wouldn't be entirely wise, was it?

"That's odd, they seem like muggles to me. Why would they be in a pureblood's manor?" Draco said.

"How do you know they're muggles?" Blaise asked.

"Oh come on Blaise, no proper pureblood girl would ever dare to wear a swim wear as little as that." Draco said although he couldn't complain that he truly did appreciate those bikinis, he remembered seeing a lot of muggle girls in America wear them on the beach or on the pool, it was specially easy to take off or gain access to parts that he, a hormonal teenage boy would love to feel.

"I suppose your right. Pity they have those things on their eyes, It would have been easier to remember them if we ever bump into them in town." Blaise said, referring to their sunglasses.

"Yeah well, who knows maybe we'll meet them sometime, knowing our mothers they're probably gossiping about this whole place now, they'll figure it out soon and then we'll know them." Draco said, smirking as he pointed Blaise back to the two girls who had now stood up to walk over to the table with chips, as the two flying men looked on appreciatively at their back side.

"Blimey, I swear we have to find out who they are." Blaise said as they continued to stare while the two girls drank and ate chips while the two boys snuck up on both girls, hauled them over and threw them into the pool before jumping in after them. They could hear them screaming from shock, shouting at the boys in annoyance and then laughing with them. It was clear these people were pretty close.

A little while longer, the girl in the black bikini fetched her sunglasses that had floated away from her when she was unceremoniously thrown into the pool and placed it on the edge of the pool.

As much as they enjoyed watching the girls swim around in their bikinis, they knew they had to return to the manor because it was getting late so, with one last look, Draco and Blaise turned and flew back to Malfoy manor but not before Draco took one last glance at the girl in a black bikini, she seemed familiar but he could not for the life of him, place her in any of the people he knew.

* * *

Hermione and her cousins continued to hang around the pool the whole day, with the chips being constantly refilled and the ice in the chiller charmed to be kept from melting so that the drinks stay cool. They had also taken their lunch there, brought out by the house elves, of course, they enjoyed their time there.

Hermione and Alaia went out of the pool after being thrown in by their cousins and swimming around a bit in favor of getting more food in their system.

"Herms, you have to teach me what abs exercises you do! You look like a VS model, well if you had larger boobs and were taller, with those abs!" Alaia said laughing as Hermione scowled at her. Out of the two of them it was always Alaia who were thought to be blessed with looks, With hair as brown as Hermione's but straighter and easier to manage as opposed to her bird's nest of a hair, at 5'8 she was taller than Hermione's 5'6 frame and to add to that, she had curves in all the right places.

"Oh come now, Herms! Don't scowl! I was only joking, but seriously though I need to work out cause I've been gaining weight lately." Alaia said.

"Ali, sure I'll help you but I really don't think you need it, you still look great!" Hermione said.

Hermione and her cousins continued to stay in the pool until the adults came to tell them to go back inside and get ready for dinner.

Once they had returned inside the manor, each of them went to their own rooms to take a shower and get dressed then headed down to the main lobby and went to the dining hall together.

* * *

AN: Well that was… uneventful? I don't really know I was just paving the way for the future Draco-Hermione meet up scenes. LOL besides like I said before, I wanted this to show Hermione with her family and so a lot of bonding moments are in order, right? Right? Don't worry though we'll be seeing familiar faces soon! :)

I also noticed I have a lot of nickname for Hermione! I can't seem to decide which I like more, Minnie, Herms, Mione so I used them all! :)


End file.
